Why Are Black People Killing Themselves?
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
Why Are Black People Killing Themselves?
For all who might have missed it, I'd like to call attention to Larry Aubry's excellent article, "Black on Black Violence: Part Pained Indifference," that appeared in the Dec. 4 edition of the Los Angeles Sentinel. In his article Aubry discusses Black people's tendency to simply stand by as a small segment of the community embarks upon a course of Black annihilation. He very correctly points out that "Black-on-Black violence is a manifestation of race-based poverty, frustration and self-hate, spawned and nurtured by official neglect and the complicit indifference of Blacks themselves." In other words, our children are dying as a direct result of the apathy attendant to a lack of self-respect.
But wait a minute, how can that be? Aren't we the people who claim to be "Black and proud?"
Yes, we're the very ones--but that's nothing but lip service. Due to centuries of having to survive on vapors and dreams, we've become specialists in embracing style over substance, and delusion over reality. Thus, we've been coming up with slogans, nursery rhymes, and completely meaningless axioms for years, in an attempt to compensate for our lack of action-it's a cognitive device designed to hold on to our self-esteem.
But the national joke is this--we're the only ones who take the farce seriously. Everyone else in the world knows our dred locs, swagger, and raised fists for exactly what they are-an attempt to create an image of who we would like to be, rather than who we, in fact, are. Everyone knows that if we were truly the proud people that we represent ourselves to be, we'd die before we'd allow what's going on in our community. So the fact is, we're not only killing ourselves, but we're looking like fools in the process.
You see, all the swagger notwithstanding, it doesn't take much insight for the world to recognize that a truly proud people would never allow themselves to be so totally overwhelmed by circumstance. What kind of pride would allow one's children to be abandoned, under-educated, drugged, and killed in the street with impunity? And what kind of pride would allow us to watch our daughters be seduced by a lifestyle that degrades, disrespect, and abuses them, then have us idolize and enrich the very people who brought that lifestyle into our homes? So, Black pride? I don't think so. What we're dealing with in the Black community isn't even remotely related to pride, it's more like cultural malfeasance-and if we allow it to continue, we're not going to survive.
The Black community has simply got to face the reality of our shortcomings. Then we need to take the time to reassess our cultural mores. We've got to recognize that if we truly want our children to take pride who they are, we must begin to embrace knowledge, and make excellence a priority. Our young people are not going to obtain a thirst for knowledge through osmosis, it has to be bred into them-and that can't happen as long as we continue to rewards materialism over character. So if we ever truly want to become the proud people that we profess ourselves to be, we're going to have to set aside our worship of materialism as a primary value, and begin to impress the importance of knowledge, character, and dignity upon our young people.
We've got to help our young people to see that the heroes in our community aren't the ones driving around in flashy cars, and wearing fancy clothes, the community's true heroes are standing at bus stops in work clothes trying to feed their families. They also have to understand that having a good jump shot is only means to an end, and not an end in itself. We've got to raise our young men to recognize that manhood is not about having the courage to rob and steal, but having the courage to face a bill collector, and not about being tough enough to beat a man to death, but being loving enough to raise a little girl. As long as we're failing to relate those values, we'll never be able to take pride in our community.
But one of the reasons we can't coalesce around these kind of values is that we have competing interests in the community. Most responsible Black people whose interests lie directly within the community understand the importance of eradicating drugs and violence from our midst, getting young men off our corners, and urging deadbeat dads to support their kids. But these values are in direct conflict with the interests of those Blacks who'd rather remain mad at the White man than see the Black community prosper. If they simply sat back and allowed us to change our ways and begin to prosper, that might indicate that we could have done it before, and demonstrate that our condition just might not have been totally the White man's fault after all, and they can't have that.
In addition, many of these people have a professional stake in seeing the Black community remain stagnant and disaffected. Some of these people make a living through protest. You know the ones I'm talking about-some of our so-called "civil rights leaders", politicians, and a few professionals who benefit directly from our support, or indirectly by riding the coattails of the disaffected Black populous to gain professional advantage.
What makes this situation particularly unconscionable is the fact that while these people will criticize any attempt to speak out against negative conditions in the community as "blaming the victim," they've moved their own families out of the community, and thus, effectively shielding them from the dangers that failing to address these issues would bring into our lives.
We don't hear a word from these people regarding the work that needs to be done our community, but mark my word, as soon as Barack Obama takes the oath of office you're going to hear them screaming at the top of their lungs that if Barack was truly a Black man, he swing the doors of the treasury open to the Black community. They know damn well he can't do that, but they need something to protest to justify their existence. You see, with these people, it's not about actually improving the Black community, it's about giving themselves a reason for being. I call it, "Protest, Inc."
So what we've got to keep in mind is that these very same people have been protesting and complaining for the past forty years (every since Martin Luther King was killed) and they haven't brought one constructive thing into the community in all that time. The Black community is essentially in the same condition that MLK left us in 1968. But of course, Protest, Inc. is going to claim that it is only due to their selfless efforts that Barack Obama's presidency was made possible. But that's also a lie. Barack Obama is not president because of them-he's president in spite of them.
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Beautifully-written, beautiful message.
December 15, 2008 9:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you so much, but I expect to get a lot of heat over it. It's far from politically correct, but I think it broaches issues that need to be addressed.
December 15, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sooner or later, we - America, as both a society and a nation - will have to talk about these issues. It will be best if everyone can be in on that discussion, and if those of us who are white can take an honest part without being labeled as racist when what we are is in fact concerned. I don't claim to have too many answers, what I'm actually good at sometimes (in serious contexts) is asking questions. And I know that our interests are very much the same in the long run.
I'll be positive and truthful.
December 15, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm Jesse Jackson and I disapprove this message.
More seriously, I really like your post, and think it took a lot of courage.
Not to make any excuses, but what do you think about the drug war, the privatization of prisons, mandatory minimum sentences, and the financial incentives for cops (including black cops) to arrest for minor drug offenses.
Here's a staggering Dutch documentary I watched last week that opened my suburban Caucasian eyes to much of the above:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=864268000924014458&ei=OyNHSeLECImwrQKujbCdDw&q=dutch+documentary+on+drugs
Anyway, I look forward to chatting further, and thanks again for the great post.
December 15, 2008 10:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
It’s clear that they’re trying to make incarceration big business, but as I see it, there’s a simple solution for that–live your life in such a way that you don’t get busted. There are literally millions of Black people across this country--the vast majority of us, in fact–who never come into contact with a policeman throughout their entire lives.
So as I see it, there’s two ways you can look at the mistreatment of Black criminals. On the one hand, you can call it gross discrimination. But on the other hand, it can be seen as one of the few times when the Black community gets an even break. Since Black criminals tend to prey on Black victims, why should I worry about how they’re being treated? If a guy breaks into my house and steals my television, I want the cops to bust him upside the head, and if it's his third strike . . . Oh, well.
Again, I realize that may not be politically correct, but then, I’m a pragmatist. I've had two members of my family murdered.
December 15, 2008 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
No further amplification required. I'll just throw in an "Amen!" chorus.
December 16, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
It’s clear that they’re trying to make incarceration big business, but as I see it, there’s a simple solution for that–live your life in such a way that you don’t get busted. There are literally millions of Black people across this country--the vast majority of us, in fact–who never come into contact with a policeman throughout their entire lives.
So as I see it, there’s two ways you can look at the mistreatment of Black criminals. On the one hand, you can call it gross discrimination. But on the other hand, it can be seen as one of the few times when the Black community gets an even break. Since Black criminals tend to prey on Black victims, why should I worry about how they’re being treated? If a guy breaks into my house and steals my television, I want the cops to bust him upside the head, and if it's his third strike . . . Oh, well.
Again, I realize that may not be politically correct, but then, I’m a pragmatist. I've had two members of my family murdered.
December 15, 2008 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like to jump in with two answers to billwalker. My first answer is that I don't think anyone should be in jail for possession. The war on drugs is a stupid and harmful and wasteful war. Granted, anyone who sells drugs to a minor should do some time, I suppose, but otherwise? It's just stupid.
Secondly, I can see where Wattree might feel he's gonna take some heat. I am a white woman but two of my long-term relationships were interracial and I've come to adopt both of the families involved as my own, and they don't include anyone who needs his lecture other than the two men I was involved with. Which puts me in somewhat of a sticky-wicket place to be, I suppose.
Most of the black women I know and love are strong and independent and most of the black men I know are either strong, independent and elderly, or they are weak, dependent and younger.
December 15, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric, this is an eloquent, moving, and truth-telling post. What you write makes total psychological sense. It takes a man of great courage to write as you've done. And only someone who comes from the same community can effectively get the message across. I applaud what you're trying to accomplish. And its message, in some ways, could apply to many people from other communities or groups. We can all benefit from these words.
I encourage you to keep voicing this message, wherever you can. I know it won't be an easy message to carry. But if you can convince a few. And those few can convince a few, then over time that ripple effect may change many. It's the same idea Obama speaks of in terms of how change comes.
December 15, 2008 11:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is well written and thought out and felt. I have watched a number of African-American forums on C-SPAN, read a few books on this subject and many, many articles.
Mr. Cosby is really hot about this issue.
Professor Dyer positions himself on the other side and calls for BC to debate him.
The irony is that both of these great spokesmen agree on more issues than they disagree and both are elated over the election results.
I do think that the class struggle is still paramount because gang warfare, for instance involves many minority groups as well as poor whites.
How much of choice do we have?
The President-Elect has really listened to Bill Cosby--I should call him Professor also or Doctor since he has his own real PHD besides honorariums.
But Barack has stressed the necessity of a two parent home--knowing the struggle of single mothers. He has stressed the importance of turning off the TV, monitoring the computers, overseeing homework, becoming involved in the PTA, becoming involved in community activities, and yes, becoming involved in your local church.
Keep on keepin on. Welcome. I have not seen your blogs before.
I am a white guy who spent most of his childhood growing up in white suburban schools. But I represented a lot of the poor and minorities for decades before some neurological issues and despair.
This is a great country with great riches. It needs change from the top and from the bottom-up.
December 16, 2008 5:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do not wish to bother you further, but I checked out your blog. It will take awhile to read it. You are a very busy writer. Every few days it would not hurt to republish a post and tweak it here. We have so many funny logos, I frankly do not know how many minorities are on this blog. But you kind of zipped this site up a bit. Its good.
December 16, 2008 6:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rec'd. In the spirit of keeping it real, I'm going to engage in some of the "non-PC" discourse.
I agree with much of what you wrote. However, we in the AA community didn't get into this morass overnight, and we won't get out of it overnight, either. So, we've just GOT to think long-term, and look at remedying this in one to two generations, not one to two administrations.
Not to oversimplify the problem, but you have to start with the one component that can deliver the largest overall impact, while laying a real future foundation to change the destructive behaviors in the AA community. I would think this initial area of focus should be education (which opens a rather large can of worms, but that's another blog for another time).
Many of the largest shareholders in "Protest, Inc." are older civil-rights figures who have made (fairly lucrative) careers out of stoking the anger you reference. You have to counteract that influence by giving the younger generations a real shot at escaping the downward spiral that these shareholders feast on.
The AA graduation rates are a real source of alarm - and no matter how many real, accessible, and completely honorable role models AA kids are given in their everyday lives, if they do not master certain minimum basic skills, they're left with the economic equivalent of trying to keep up with Usain Bolt with their ankles tied together.
I used to teach in AA communities in southwestern Illinois and western Pennsylvania. By my estimation, 90% of the high school students were - at minimum - two years behind where they should have been. That was something like 2200 kids combined (these were not big cities). Now, consider similar schools in Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Los Angeles, Houston...the number of utterly unprepared AA students being shoved through to graduation has reached epidemic proportions.
Dropout rates are heavily tied to ineffective schooling as well. (There are other factors, yes, but bad teaching, bad administration, and poor curricula are certainly major issues.)
Kids in AA communities are being placed on that downward spiral before they can even spell "spiral" by crumbling educational infrastructures. To really address this on a long-term basis - to begin to address the "pride" deficit you eloquently discuss - the dearth of educational excellence must be remedied.
If Obama wants to open up the Treasury, fine. Don't give us Escalades, platinum rope chains and Coogi sweaters, though. Give us teachers and books that aren't 5-10 years out of date. Give us support staff, administrators and science labs that actually WORK - not excuses that don't. Give us computers that have USB slots and interactive tutorials, not 5.25" floppy drives and Apple logos.
Education, to me, is the key. That's why I like Obama's plan for merit pay. I hope he gets to implement it - it will attract many people who either left teaching (like me) or avoided it altogether for more money, more respect and less hopelessness in other careers.
Obviously, there are many other things that must be done. But it's much easier to shape a young mind correctly than to try and re-wire an older mind. To make for real, long-term change in the AA community, we have to get our kids on the right track in school and get them ready for the world they'll face when they get out.
December 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eloquent and insightful post.
And Boyd above hits the proverbial nail on it's head with this line;
"Kids in AA communities are being placed on that downward spiral before they can even spell "spiral" by crumbling educational infrastructures."
Maybe a k-12 Hi-def digital "education" satellite would bring some of that knowledge into their experience, without the need for more sure-to-crumble infrastructure.
We need to get "knowledge" out of the brick-and-mortar school building trap, we have technology that could give every child (the younger the better) access to knowledge, without the encumbrances of traditional school structures.
Until we figure out how to bring quality education to EVERY youngster(I repeat, the younger the better) we remain a nation of hypocrites, who give lip service to early childhood education, but never really accomplish the goals we claim to aspire to.
December 16, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Wattree said two family members were murdered I thought - "Oh God, this guy lives in Chicago." I saw Quincy Jones on Charlie Rose last week talking about Chicago like it was somewhere below the ninth ring of hell. I guess LA must not be great either.
Here's an alternative plan for black America: Move to rural areas. Seriously. When I was in Wyoming over the summer, there were "help wanted" signs all over - everybody's working in the oil fields.
Lets take a wide angle look at the US - not who is the most 'evil' or good. We have a system based on 'bringing home the bacon' and it rewards small, low population states. Go back to the Electoral College, where a Wyomingite's vote counts roughly three times that of large population states.
I've read that a large chunk of the "Cowboy" ranks were blacks. This was partly because being a cowboy was actually a really terrible job. Still, my advice to urban blacks, who are getting the short end of the electoral stick:
"Go west, young man!"
December 16, 2008 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Move with what money?
December 16, 2008 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's see now. About a third of black America is and has been tied up in the criminal justice system since shortly after American industry shut down and crack cocaine was introduced about 25 years ago. Did blacks put them there? Were they responsible for all that? After the ghetto rebellions/riots of the 1960s, a large class arose nationwide of 'poverty pimps,' African Americans who served to keep things 'cool.' Did the money to pay them off and the social services and police support to keep them in charge come from the black community? We live in a class divided society ruled by whites. Is it any surprise that African American population embodies the same divisions and aspirations, however much the extremes seen among whites are truncated by racism?
I very much appreciate the extreme frustration your plea represents. Yet, the black community is not the same as the Chinese (or Koreans or Japanese), and it's delusional to try to make themselves in that kind of image. In one sense African Americans are true native Americans and thus a better future for black America lies not in getting a community act together, but in taking part in develop multi-ethnic struggle to break out of the caste-like status into which they've been subordinated.
December 16, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am a bit forgiving of the tendency of inner-city folks to compete within their existing world, i.e. the kid doing just barely OK in high school is hugely unlikely to make it past McDonald's, or a UPS driver if he's really ambitious. The money is in drugs, why not try for it? the way out of the ghetto looks mostly to be sports and hip-hop, as far as TV shows, so that's the other trope.
Until we can ensure there is a reasonable chance of climbing the ladder, there is little incentive to try and compete in the white world. Manner of speech will shoot down most jobs, right away. And without mentors, examples, helpful parents or siblings, no one gets anywhere, even in the white world. There is no truly self-made man.
The best self-help program right now is the mere existence of Barack Obama, who may talk white, but apparently it ain't just a sell-out, because he is now in charge. That should change the dynamic at least somewhat.
Restore steeply progressive tax rates, to devalue windfall wealth and encourage steady income, to remove the glamor of bling and enhance the status of integrity. The low guy on the totem pole needs to feel he has a chance of advancement to some decent level. Right now he is quite correct in assuming he's fucked.
December 16, 2008 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom has a good point here and Boyd brings a lot of experience into this. If Wattree doesn't start posting some of his old stuff check out the block in his post.
He has a lot to say.
December 16, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom:
It occurs to me that the "American Value" of massive windfalls is not coming from the lower classes. In fact, it is the "Leisure Class" (Thorstein Veblen's formulation) which places all the empahsis on 'making a killing.'
Look at John Mccain and his penchant for high stakes gambling. And remember Rudy Guliani's "high risk, high reward" primary strategy? The same is true, really of all the big time Yale WASPS and Harvard Jews on Wall Street. They're looking for the mega jackpot ship that comes in.
Slow and steady accumulation of wealth and "buy and hold" stock strategies are what they preach to the rubes who they rip off with their currency manipulations etc.
Blacks didn't invent the value of "pecuniary decency" - they've just adopted it as a value recieved from on high.
December 16, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Samuel Jackson has donated 50 thousand dollars to support the Obama inauguration! Oprah spent millions to build an elite girls school in Africa - actually she was ripped off big time by the contractors. She could have built 100 quality schools boys and girls - better yet put the money in our inner cities. Samuel, of all folks knows what 50 thousand could do if placed with the right grass roots organization.
What is good for Wall Street and Main Street is good for the depressed inner city. Bail out the cities, invest in job creation in the inner cities. Invest in the inner city schools - Yes, open the doors to the Treasury to the unemployed, the disenfranchised, the small entrepreneurs and businesses who have a solid business plan and feasibility study but lack a W2 or high enough FICO score. We all know the President is not really the power - this has been true for over 50 years. Obama can not spread the love any furhter than the 'power brokers' allow him. This is political and power fact. The Democrats won the whitehouse because of the fear spread by the financial meltdown. White and Black middle and upper class Americans all knew only the Democrats would spend the money needed to save them from slipping into the poverty they abhor and having to live like the 'wretched of the inner city'.
Eliminate poverty! Whatever happened to the War on Poverty? The war on drugs has been well funded and has accomplished nothing except a new form of legalized genocide and fratricide. America eats its young!
December 16, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right, even though you phrased it backwards - what is good for the inner city is good for Main Street and ultimately Wall Street. Just not for some of the quarterly balance sheet obsessives. To win this, America has to play the long game. Anything else loses big. Anything else...
December 16, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like most of this. However, I have a problem with criticizing the efforts from people like Jackson and Winfrey. They've both done extensive charity work in the US and in AA communities (Winfrey more so than Jackson, because she has more cash).
If an AA actor wants to donate to the Obama inauguration, it's awfully hard to blame him. It's also very tough to criticize a multi-billionaire for wanting to help poor children in Africa (many of whom know true poverty on a level that virtually no American can even effectively empathize with).
If you want to dispense criticism, talk to Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley about their gambling debts.
December 16, 2008 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric, it's pretty clear you have an audience here. I think this kind of discussion needs to be extended and continued. I welcome that.
Please assist. Thanks in advance. :)
December 16, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great discussion; I had trouble signing in, so few will read this; but this was my first reaction:
The self-destructive culture you describe is instilled from birth, by parents who:
Yell "Shut up" at their baby instead of soothing it.
Swear at their kids instead of talking to them.
Control their kids by inflicting pain, instead of using their children's natural desire to please them, with logical negative consequences as a back-up.
Watch "Jerry Springer" with their kids instead of taking them to the playground.
Buy their babies $70 shoes before they can walk, instead of reading to them.
Encourage fights between their kids, rather than teaching them to problem-solve.
All this before they reach kindergarten, when it is suddenly discovered that they are already two years behind their middle-class peers in intellectual development.
I live in Oakland, and I've seen all of the above, and the consequences.
I have all the understanding and forgiveness in the world for all this, but basic stuff has to change.
December 17, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
The bottom line is, nothing is going to change this situation until the pursuit of materialism is replaced with the pursuit of knowledge, me-too-ism is replaced with independent thought, selfishness is replaced with community spirit, and we begin to redefine what behaviors we reward in the community.
December 18, 2008 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
As someone who has lived thru the Civil Rights era, I have long wondered why there is NO [or little] organizing going on in the Black community.
At least that is my perception. There could be a lot going on that I don't know about.
Malcolm X went door-to-door to people's houses and asked, "What do you need?"
Black people, poor people, Spanish-speaking people are a majority in many towns and cities.
Why doesn't anyone organize them around issues of poverty - eg the amount of Food Stamps has not been raised, eg health care, education etc etc.
[Not saying all Black people receive Food Stamps obviously, but it is the low-income people I am speaking of, not middle-class Black people.]
Why doesn't anyone go to the Unemployment office and talk to people? To the welfare office?
The low-income people of this country - not just Black - are a sleeping giant. Why doesn't anyone prod?
December 21, 2008 9:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, that is the key, Ellenr. The Black community--in fact, the nation--has to realize that the recial struggle is obsolete. The new struggle is about class.
We've been waste deep in a class struggle every since the Reagan administration and we've failed to recognize it. Race is only significant in the fact that its been effectively used as a distraction. That is why we now find ourselves caught up in this financial crisis. It's been coming on for years but we've failed to recognize it.
If the American people ever started looking back, they’d notice that the same policies, the same names, and the same corruption is recycled by the Republican Party every generation. On October 29, 1929 the Republican Party ushered in the Great Depression under President Herbert Hoover, and it took Democratic president, Franklin Roosevelt, to bail the nation out; then on October 19, 1987, under Republican, Ronald Reagan, the stock market fell 508 points due to the excesses of Reaganomics. Then, again, due to the continued freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions with assets of over $125 billion.
Then in 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest. The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement.
Then there was the Lincoln Savings and loan scandal in 1987, involving John McCain. The scandal was very similar to the one that is currently playing out on Wall Street. He was one of a group of senators dubbed The Keating Five involved in a scandal by the same name.
In 1976 Charles Keating moved to Arizona to run the American Continental Corporation. In 1984, shortly after the Reagan era push to deregulate the savings and loan community, Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan and began to engage in highly risky investments with the depositors' savings. In 1989 the parent company, which Keating headed, went bankrupt, and it resulted in over 21,000 investors losing their life savings. Most of the investors were elderly, and the loss amounted to about 285 million dollars.
After having received over a million dollars from Keating in illegal campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, and other gratuities, the Keating Five--Senators John Glenn, Don Riegle, Dennis DeConini, Alan Cranston, and Sen. John McCain--attempted to intervene in the investigation into Keating's activities by the regulators. Later, they were admonished to varying degrees by the senate for attempting to influence regulators on Keating's behalf. Charles Keating ended up being convicted for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, for which he received 10 years by the state court, and a 12 year sentence in federal court. After spending four and a half years in prison, his convictions were overturned. But prior to being retried, he pled guilty to a number of felonies in return for a sentence of time served.
December 21, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
well Mr. Wattree, I disagree with your first paragraph. I do not think the racial struggle is obsolete. I remember "Sir Charles" Barkley recounting how he had once been pulled aside while waiting on line at an airport. Clearly his no doubt outrageously expensive clothes did not save him from being 'profiled'.
Or think of Jena, Alabama. And the nooses that sprang up in many places [including New York City] after that. Or the Black man dragged to his death by a car.
I think race hatred is deeply ingrained in the (North) American psyche, and probably always will be. Not saying I'm resigned to it, I'll always fight it, there will always be people of all races who will oppose it, but I do not think it will ever disappear.
I also do not think the class struggle is 'new'. The class struggle has been with us as long as there have been classes. Class struggle is inherent in the very existence of the class system. It just doesn't get much notice. For good reason. If all people who were oppressed by class, got together - what then?
Both class and race are potent forces in our society. They are intertwined.
I do thank you for your response, but I would be interested to know your views about my presupposition - why is there no organizing going on in communities of color and low-income communities?
If there is, what does it look like, and how should one rate its effectiveness.
Now that I think - acorn does organizing in grass-roots communities. So there is some going on.
But it seems there are two movements that do not overlap- there are mostly White middle-class people who oppose the war in Iraq, but do not address poverty. And there are people involved in grass-roots organizing who are mostly invisible.
What do you think?
regards,
ellenr
December 21, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink